In 2019, New Jersey was at the forefront of a legal and public policy battle over mandatory arbitration of employment and consumer contracts. And 2020 promises more conflict as pro-arbitration interests and those opposing mandatory arbitration do battle in state and federal courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court set the tone in 2019 with three major decisions concerning arbitration—Lamps Plus v. Varela and Schein v. Archer and White Sales, which were seen as favorable to employers, and New Prime v. Oliveira, which was more friendly to workers. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an important arbitration decision when it declared Uber’s arbitration clause unenforceable and reinstated a New Jersey class action claiming the ride-hailing company’s drivers are misclassified as independent contractors.